Ball by Ball Live Score Commentary

That’s all we have for you, thanks, as ever, for your company and goodnight!

“I suppose from a perfect game, after the start we had with the bat, we probably wanted 30 or 40 more runs. But the way we responded with the ball and the field is exactly what we want. Sometimes we need our bowlers to get you out of trouble and that’s what the three fast bowlers did. Beautiful to see,” Faf du Plessis says. “Lungi, you don’t look at him and see he bowls 147. But he hits the ball hard and he always picks up wickets in the ifrst five overs and that’s a massive weapon. Nortje has a huge tank, to bowl seven overs in a row. Good to see him bowling with pace and control. Good signs. Probably bout a year or two ago, I wanted to transition from a good player to try and become a great player so challenged myself mentally that when I get to 30s and 40s, I want to make big runs. And that mental shift is really the difference. For us the Vision is just to look ahead, doesn’t always make sense, Mulder batting at 5 today, no one would have expected, but that’s what we want to do. Its good that we’re 2-0 up, it gives us that flexibility and to make out of the box moves. Someone like JP has to come back. We have to fix that. If he comes back it might change one or two other things. Obviously Dale will be back for the last two games. Hopefully we can get our top six batters, an allrounder and four bowlers for the World Cup”

Quinton de Kock is Man of the Match“I didn’t mean to be [hitting all those boundaries] The wicket played really nicely up front. It’s nice to get the team off to a good start like that. Every time we play cricket, we want to play the ball not the name, half-volley’s a half volley after all. KG came out there with great intent. It’s the fastest he’s bowled in a while. Good to see him cranking up those speeds. [On Miller keeping] He seemed pretty excited. We are working on him. We’ll make him a better keeper one day”

Presentation time “I think, first 10-15 overs we were not bowling well but after that we hung in there and then we restricted them to 250 which was a really good effort.” Lasith Malinga says. “I think they didn’t understand, I feel this is not a gift. They have talent. That’s why they’re playing fo rthe national team. They have to understand that. They have to understand their own value. We have done enough talking. Players have to realise they have to value these opportunity. They don’t come around every day. They have to grab it.”

UJack: “SL lost its last 5 wickets for 33, while SA lost the last 5 for 31. Top order performance made the difference. All the more reason QdK deserves to be MoM tonight. SL need to focus on their limited over batting urgently!”

ShaileshR: “SA have won by a whopping 113 runs, despite putting only 250 on board.” —- And that single sentence alone is about as emphatic as any high-brow analysis

7.41 pm South Africa were 220 for 4. Then they were 250 all out. That after Quinton de Kock’s outrageous 94 off only 70 balls, with practically all those runs made in boundaries. The pitch really didn’t look that easy to bat on. And Sri Lanka showed that to be true in the final stages of the first innings

But South Africa’s bowlers and fielders were on it from ball one. There were yells of “one brings two” as Faf du Plessis set loose his fast bowlers. Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi responded, bowling 150 kph and setting the tone at the very start. The only batsmen that managed to offer any resistance was Kusal Mendis and Oshada Fernando. Both of them looked more than capable of winning this game but both of them were dimissed by Anrich Nortje, running one of them out and trapping the other lbw. Great game for the newly-capped fast bowler. And at 116 for 5, Imran Tahir came in, took over, and ushered the game to its current conclusion.

Adarsh: “Never thought I would see the words “substitute fielder Dale Steyn”.”

Ngidi to MVT Fernando full and on off stump, Vishwa, as he did in Durban, somehow gets bat to it and moves off strike. Looks squared up. Doesn’t fancy getting in line with the quick delivery. But yet there’s the outside edge to the rescue 1 run

End of Over No.32 Sri Lanka 137/9 Last Over (2 runs)

31.6

1

Imran Tahir to MVT Fernando wraps up with a googly, which Vishwa taps into the covers 1 run

Samrat Ahuja: “De Kock has gone to get ready to collect his man of the match trophy!!”

31.5

0

Imran Tahir to MVT Fernando pushes it through on off stump, Vishwa is able to keep it out no run

31.4

0

Imran Tahir to MVT Fernando huge swing over the leg side the moment he sees the ball tossed up, but the legbreak beats him handsomely. Good work from Miller behind the stumps though. Smart take, quick to break the stumps no run

31.3

0

Imran Tahir to MVT Fernando full and turning into the right-hander again. He gets forward to block no run

31.2

1

Imran Tahir to Malinga tossed up outside off, he goes for the big hit, long-off is lurking, but it falls short of him 1 run

31.1

0

Imran Tahir to Malinga googly – pitching on middle and turning in. The right hander tries to flick but only manages an inside edge no run

David Miller is keeping. Where’s de Kock?!

End of Over No.31 Sri Lanka 135/9 Last Over (wicket maiden)

30.6

0

Rabada to MVT Fernando back of a length on off stump, defends no run

30.5

W

Rabada to Dananjaya taken by midwicket running to his right! It is quick. It is short. It cramps the left-hander and even though he tries to make room, he mistimes the shot, a pull that comes off with the bat still turning in his hands. That means he gets no power behind the ball and South Africa are all set to ride out into the sunset OUT A Dananjaya c Mulder b Rabada 4 (23m 16b 0x4 0x6) SR: 25.00

30.4

0

Rabada to Dananjaya clears the front leg against the slower ball – on a length outside off – and pulls to midwicket no run

30.3

0

Rabada to Dananjaya goes for the ramp against a bouncer angled across him. Doesn’t connect. De Kock collects it and immediately asks deep third man to come finer no run

30.2

0

Rabada to Dananjaya carves the pitched-up delivery on off stump at 142 kph to mid-off no run

30.1

0

Rabada to Dananjaya fuller delivery on middle, he defends it no run

End of Over No.30 Sri Lanka 135/8 Last Over (9 runs)

29.6

0

Imran Tahir to Malinga tossed up ball on middle, defends no run

29.5

W

Imran Tahir to Rajitha traps him lbw! Tahir’s sprinted all the way to point. Didn’t even bother to look at the umpire. His finger’s up though. And this is special. This is Tahir’s trademark. The quicker delivery. The googly. Pitching on off stump. Cutting back into the batsman – a batsman who thinks this will be a leg break and so he can go back and cut. “Well, boo!” says the ball as it cuts in and strikes low on the back pad in front of the sticks OUT CAK Rajitha lbw b Imran Tahir 0 (2m 1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

29.4

1

Imran Tahir to Dananjaya full and outside off, he drives to deep point 1 run

The batsmen crossed while the catch was being taken so Kasun Rajitha can camp out at the non-strikers’

Imran Tahir to NLTC Perera smashed over midwicket, a huge hit for a six, flighted around off, and Perera gives it his all SIX

29.1

2

Imran Tahir to NLTC Perera fuller around off, drilled past the bowler but a brilliant sliding effort by Hendricks at long-off prevents the boundary 2 runs

Around the wicket

End of Over No.29 Sri Lanka 126/6 Last Over (1 run)

Abhinav: “Yesterday Handscomb’s run-out by Sir Jadeja changed the game and today the run-out of Mendis by Nortje has changed the dynamics of this chase. Teams are winning games due to fielding can’t have imagined that a decade ago.” — Think fielding has always been important. Viv Richards’ effected three run-out in the World Cup 1975 final

28.6

0

Rabada to Dananjaya short of length around off, gets on the back foot and defends it towards cover-point no run

Over the wicket

28.5

0

Rabada to Dananjaya length around off, looks to play towards cover, away from the body. Gets an inside edge on to his leg no run

28.4

0

Rabada to Dananjaya back of length around off, defended from the back foot no run

28.3

0

Rabada to Dananjaya back of length around off, aimed at the batsman’s throat who gets his bat in front and defends no run

Deepak Samson: “Hey Hemant do you guys actually type or use voice to text?” — We type

28.2

1

Rabada to NLTC Perera short of length outside off, goes back and cuts it towards sweeper cover 1 run

28.1

0

Rabada to NLTC Perera a bouncer at 141kph, following the batsman who ducks under no run

Around the wicket

End of Over No.28 Sri Lanka 125/6 Last Over (7 runs)

27.6

0

Imran Tahir to Dananjaya length around off, stays in the crease and defends no run

27.5

2

Imran Tahir to Dananjaya a full toss on the stumps, hits it towards midwicket for a couple 2 runs

27.4

0

Imran Tahir to Dananjaya quicker one around off, 96 kph, goes back to defend, ends up playing back on to his shoe no run

A slip and short leg for Dananjaya

27.3

1

Imran Tahir to NLTC Perera length around off, spinning away, goes back and cuts it towards sweeper cover 1 run